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00 About

Marko Živić · checked against my notes, 21 Oct 2026

Marko Živić Meet the bottleneck. on purpose.

I build fast with AI. Then I slow down and check if it makes sense. Control engineer by degree, software engineer for ten years, founder since 2020.

This page is my record, written from my own notes. The parts that didn’t work are on it too.

Work with me Start with the loop

DatasheetMŽ-01 · Rev. 21 Oct 2026

Marko Živić

Human in the loop for software built with AI

  • 10 years in software
  • 7 of them in senior or lead roles
Marko Živić
Package: 1 person

Features

  • GitHub Actions Team Lead, via Akvelon. Six developers on GitHub’s setup actions.
  • GitHub Codespaces Tech Lead, via Experis.
  • IBM QMF Product Owner through Teracloud.
  • MSc, Automation and System Control, Niš. Best master’s thesis of my generation.
  • 19 products I started since 2016. Most unsold. All on this page.

Operating conditions

Base
Zaječar, Serbia
Speaks
English, Serbian
Hours
CET, remote
Company
OCTRA, since 2020

Absolute maximum ratings

Native mobile apps
not offered
ML research, model training
not offered
Petabyte-scale data
not offered
Low-latency trading
not offered

Ordering: inspection from $3,500 · work.md

From 33 notes in my vault

limits first. saves us both a call.

01 The loop

MSc, Automation and System Control · University of Niš

I trained to close loops.

My degree is in automation and system control. The rule I never unlearned: a fast system with no feedback can overshoot, and when it drifts, nothing pulls it back. AI is the fastest motor I’ve ever had. I’m the controller, and my inspection is the sensor.

Fig. 1 · How I work, drawn the way I was taught Pen on grid paper · 21 Oct 2026
  1. What you need goes in.
  2. I turn it into a spec, a scope and a taste call.
  3. AI builds it with agents and my skills. It also adds noise: confident, clean-looking, wrong.
  4. What it builds goes through inspection. What fails comes back to me, and the loop runs again.
Fig. 2 · Step response: what happens after you ask for something Sketch, not data · the four stories are real
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
  • AI and me, closed loop
  • AI alone, open loop
  • The spec, ±5%

  1. Rise time

    How fast a first version exists.

    Three weeks. A director with 20 years of coding had estimated four months. It launched and was promoted, then stopped with no results. Building got cheap. Selling didn’t.

    Circuit 13 on the panel · 2026

  2. Overshoot

    What AI gets confidently wrong.

    AI called a product strategy of mine bulletproof. It missed the main competitor.

    Inspection log 01

  3. Settling time

    How long until it holds.

    90% of my SaaS rebuild was built in a week. The last 10% is two months of polish and tests, so far.

    My SaaS · Oct 2026

  4. Steady-state error

    What stays wrong when nobody checks.

    Two developers got my exact setup. Same skills, same vault. Slower, with gaps they couldn’t see.

    A sample of two · told with their OK

The tools transferred. The judgment didn’t.

What I read, and what I don’t

  • The strategy. AI designs it based on research and my feedback.
  • The feature list. AI writes it. I rewrite it.
  • The database plan. Every line, in full detail.
  • The design. My design team manually reviews and instructs AI.

02 The route

2012 to now · vendor named on every past contract

I quit my first software job because I didn’t have the vocabulary.

So I taught myself ASP.NET Core while freelancing. Seven years later I led the AI-integration design for IBM’s QMF rebuild. No rich connections, no mentors. Every lesson paid for myself.

  1. BSc and MSc, Automation and System Control

    University of Niš · Faculty of Electrical Engineering

    Best student in my class. Best master’s thesis of my generation.

  2. Electrical Engineer

    SENIS AG · Switzerland

    LabVIEW, robotic eddy-current mappers, electrical device design. I left to move into software.

  3. Junior .NET Developer

    Atomia

    Cloud hosting on ASP.NET MVC, domain purchasing, e-commerce for a Dutch client. My first software job. I quit it.

    quit. then taught myself ASP.NET Core while freelancing.

  4. Independent Full-Stack Developer

    Freelance · mostly Upwork

    15+ e-commerce and full-stack builds since: storefronts, marketplaces, payment, shipping and inventory.

    15+ builds

  5. .NET Developer, promoted to Tech Lead

    EXLRT South · for a US healthcare provider

    Led five developers on a real-time ER intake and patient-routing platform: WebSocket processing, the routing database schema, a legacy WebForms system rebuilt in ASP.NET Core.

    tech lead within months. the US stakeholder promoted me.

  6. Senior .NET Developer, promoted to Tech Lead

    Crayon · Sweden

    Tech lead on a greenfield ASP.NET Zero platform for global software-license distribution, on Azure microservices, with OAuth and RBAC APIs and reporting dashboards.

    promoted again. strong development, clear communication.

  7. Founder and Principal Engineer

    OCTRA · OneCodeToRuleAll d.o.o. · Zaječar

    My company. Everything I build of my own runs through it, this channel included.

  8. Senior Full-Stack Developer

    IM Republic · US

    Sole developer, later with one junior, on a cognitive-testing e-commerce product in .NET and JavaScript.

  9. GitHub Actions Team Lead, via Akvelon

    GitHub · vendor contract · team of six

    Led the team that owned GitHub’s setup actions: setup-node, setup-python, setup-dotnet, setup-go, setup-java. Community issues against SLAs, planning, code review, technical interviews. Version deprecations shipped with notices. No significant incidents.

  10. Senior .NET Developer

    RokoLabs · for a major asset manager

    Frontend-heavy fintech, DevOps tasks and a Node.js project.

  11. Senior .NET Developer and Architect, via Gerniks

    A European exchange operator · live-streaming platform

    Reading streams was hard-coded: one project per vendor version. I led the replacement and designed a multi-provider adapter. A new vendor or version is now configuration, not a new project. Modular monolith on DDD with RabbitMQ.

  12. GitHub Codespaces Tech Lead, via Experis

    GitHub · vendor contract · TypeScript and Azure

    I led the pipeline where AI agents converted environment templates to EC2 templates, validated them and gated every dependency and license. OIDC federation and Managed Identity replaced stored secrets. Bicep for provisioning. My manager won me six more months past GitHub’s 18-month cap.

    github ended the akvelon deal. my manager moved me to a new vendor to keep me.

  13. IBM QMF Product Owner through Teracloud

    IBM · team of nine across Serbia, Greece and Egypt

    Led the AI-integration design for the QMF rebuild over a Fortune 500 economic-data database. Agents inside the client’s firewall, so the data never left the building. Tables that explain every table in plain words, so AI could write the custom reports IBM had called impossible.

    the intro came from an engineer i backed on my github team.

  14. Building with AI, and checking it

    OCTRA · Zaječar

    My SaaS, this channel and inspections for founders. My current contract stays unnamed, by my own rule.

Start dates shown · several contracts ran in parallel · some clients stay unnamed until their NDA is checked

Titles exactly as my CV rules set them

03 The panel

19 circuits since 2016 · labels by hand

Nineteen circuits. The wiring was never the fault.

What tripped them was the selling: left to someone else, left to no one, or priced above what the buyer already spent. The exception is the one I sold before it existed.

Panel M · every product I started, 2016 to now Pick a breaker

2 On 10 Off 7 Tripped

Off: switched off or on hold · Tripped: it failed

Off Circuit 01

Learnify Tutorials

Serbian HTML and CSS lessons on YouTube.

Year
2016
Seller
Nobody
Fault
Fault C · no one was assigned to sell it

Stopped for freelancing and my master’s.

Off Circuit 02

Zaječar Noću

My town’s guide: places, reviews, photos.

Year
Before 2020
Seller
A partner
Fault
Fault A · someone else was meant to sell it

I ended it.

Tripped Circuit 03

Srbija Online

The national version of No. 02.

Year
Before 2020
Seller
A friend
Fault
Fault A · someone else was meant to sell it

He quit mid-build. The build stopped.

Tripped Circuit 04

Savour Experience

25,000+ perfumes with reviews, on an affiliate model.

Year
2020
Seller
Affiliate links and the community
Fault
Fault C · no one was assigned to sell it

Peaked near 500 daily users. Never monetized.

Tripped Circuit 05

Glam Makeup Academy

23 hours of lessons on my own LMS, with tests and certificates.

Year
2021
Seller
A partner running Meta ads
Fault
Fault A · someone else was meant to sell it

It had customers. Then the ad account was hacked and lost.

Off Circuit 06

RustIng

About 30 Rust videos and a course site.

Year
2022
Seller
Nobody
Fault
Fault C · no one was assigned to sell it

Stopped: no time, no money.

Tripped Circuit 07

WorkoutsHQ

Balkan fitness influencers sell programs and coaching.

Year
2023
Seller
The 35 influencers I onboarded
Fault
Fault A · someone else was meant to sell it

1 of 35 marketed or sold.

Off Circuit 08

Marko Code Academy

About 50 videos on senior JavaScript and .NET.

Year
2024
Seller
Nobody
Fault
Fault C · no one was assigned to sell it

Stopped for lack of time.

Tripped Circuit 09

MES

Production software wired straight to PLCs. Two demo builds.

Year
2024
Seller
A hired cold-caller, then me
Fault
Fault B · priced above the buyer’s alternative

About 200 companies, 15 real talks, 5 site visits, 0 sales. Price was the main reason in at least 4 of the 5 visits.

Off Circuit 10

Hotel software

Reception, room service, state integration, invoicing, stock, kitchen.

Year
2024
Seller
Me
Fault
Fault B · priced above the buyer’s alternative

The buyer was 80% happy with a cheap incumbent. I walked away from the market.

Tripped Circuit 11

Construction software

A custom system for a construction firm in Zaječar.

Year
2025
Seller
Me, to the firm’s director
Fault
Fault B · priced above the buyer’s alternative

He went silent, then hired others. It grew into No. 18.

Tripped Circuit 12

Penny Planner

Personal finance, built from my own spreadsheets. Fully built.

Year
2025
Seller
Influencer partners
Fault
Fault A · someone else was meant to sell it

They never came. It never sold.

Off Circuit 13

Manager’s Cabinet

Fantasy Premier League career dossiers. Built with AI in three weeks.

Year
2026
Seller
A partner
Fault
Fault A · someone else was meant to sell it

Launched and promoted. No results. The site is still up.

On Circuit 14

Studio

Technical video, then editing for YouTube creators.

Year
2024
Seller
Me
Fault
None. Still running.

Software companies: about 230 LinkedIn threads, 0 calls. YouTube creators: 25 personal emails, 6 said yes. The one thing I sold before I built it. Inbound only since August 2026.

On Circuit 15

EditWise

Operations software for video editing agencies. v1.1 rebuilt with AI.

Year
2025
Seller
Me, on founder calls
Fault
None. Still running.

I sell it myself, on founder calls. This panel will show how that goes.

Off Circuit 16

(AI security)

AI security education: a channel and a blog.

Year
2026
Seller
Its own channel and blog
Fault
None. Not at the selling stage.

Fully planned, never published. I closed it: the prep and recording load was all mine.

Off Circuit 17

(parenting channel)

Evidence-based parenting on YouTube.

Year
2026
Seller
Its host. I built core for it, automated it and made it simple to run.
Fault
None. Not at the selling stage.

Name withheld for now.

Off Circuit 18

(construction)

A site ledger for Serbian construction firms. Grew out of No. 11.

Year
2026
Seller
Owner introductions, then me
Fault
None. Not at the selling stage.

On hold. Demo built, nothing signed.

Off Circuit 19

Dental platform

Practice software for Serbian dentists.

Year
2026
Seller
My 50/50 partner, a dentist
Fault
None. Not at the selling stage.

On hold. Demo built, partner does selling.

no. 20 stays empty until three pilots pay. kill line in writing first.

  • Fault A

    Someone else was meant to sell it.

    6 circuits

  • Fault B

    I sold it myself, priced above what the buyer already spent.

    3 circuits

  • Fault C

    No one was assigned to sell it. I built it and waited.

    4 circuits

04 The pen

From Career - CV Rules.md · the file my AI writes from

Things I’m not allowed to say about myself.

My CV, my profiles and this page follow one file of rules in my vault. AI writes from it. So do I. These are the lines it forbids, and what’s true instead.

Career - CV Rules.md · 06 Founder/Career Updated 13 Oct 2026

Titles to use everywhere · and what I write instead

  1. “Former GitHub employee.” two vendor contracts: akvelon, then experis.

Claims to avoid

  1. “Hired my team at GitHub.” i ran the technical interviews. akvelon decided.

  2. “Sole architect of an exchange’s streaming platform.” led the replacement, designed the adapter. with a team.

  3. “9+ years in software.” it’s ten. too small is wrong too.

  4. “.NET Developer at Atomia, 2017.” junior .net developer, from 2016.

  5. “AI agents that fix production on their own.” designed, not built yet. real up to the action gate.

  6. “Years of production Postgres.” two weeks from near zero to a strong CTO round.

  7. “Node.js expertise.” one node project. that isn’t expertise.

8 claims cut · 0 added back

Why this is on the page

Your report gets the same pen.

An inspection only says what I can defend. If a finding can’t survive a second look, it doesn’t go in.

How the inspection works

05 Your turn

The inspection · Builds

You’ve inspected me. Your turn.

Send me one app or repository. You get a written report pack in five working days, at a price set before I start.

Not ready? Inspect your own repo

The inspection

from $3,500

USD · starting price

One app or repository · report pack in 5 working days

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